Aaahhh…. man kan undre sig over, hvordan man nogensinde har

kunnet undvære den: Online pejsen (se den i fuldskærm og husk lyd)

Tak til Sebastian :)

Målet med årets New Media Days var at ”guide deltageren i udviklingen indenfor nye medier”. Overordnet må jeg sige, at konferencen kun i nogen grad levede op til denne målsætning. Mange af de indlæg jeg overværede, gennem den to dage lange konference, skuede lidt for meget bagud og havde mere fokus på status quo end den fremtidige udvikling (hvorfor er vi hvor vi er i dag? og hvordan kom vi her til?). Men i sig selv er New Media Days konceptet stærkt – det fungerer rigtigt godt som et fælles rum for inspiration og networking. Lyspunkterne er mange - særligt når man pludselig finder sig selv i en teoretisk diskussion om danske virksomheders åben/lukkethed i forhold til brugerinvolvering og markedsføring samt profitering af web 2.0. Jeg har fremhævet tre oplæg, der på den ene eller anden måde skilte sig ud fra mængden på årets konference.

‘We feel fine’
Det første oplæg jeg vil nævne er Jonathan Harris  der har udviklet konceptet: We feel fine  – en løbende on-line visualisering af klodens humør. Princippet bag We Feel Fine er, at et stykke software hele tiden scanner blogposts over hele kloden for sætninger, der inkluderer følgende ordlyd: ’I feel ’ og ’I am feeling ’. Programmet henter hele sætningen og får således også værdiladningen i sætningen fx sad, fine, happy etc.. Disse værdiladede ord samles i en database og visualiseres på forskellig måde. Ideen er sjov og konceptet omkring visualiseringen helt fantastisk – tænk at rå-data kan gøres så indbydende – men tjek det selv ud.

Et andet indslag jeg vil fremhæve var et nyt tiltag på konferencen inspireret af den japanske oplægsform: Pecha Kucha , hvor oplægsholderne fik 20 slides af hvert 20 s varighed og dermed samlet 6 min og 40 s. til at komme rundt om deres pointer. En formidlingstilgang der kan tiltale i en verden, hvor enkelt, kort og præcis formidling ofte er en mangelvare. Emnet for oplægget var unge og mediebrug, hvor seks oplægsholdere, i spændet fra den unge teenager selv, over ungdomsforskeren til reklamemanden, gav deres bud på hvordan medierne bruges i dag og i fremtiden samt hvorfor.

Branded Engagement
Morten Remmer fra bureauet Relate konkretiserede og eksemplificerede begrebet ’branded engagement’ i en on-line virkelighed. I sig selv er bevæggrunden for at arbejde med begrebet, at man som virksomhed vil knytte sine brugere/kunder tættere til sig ved at skabe et fx on-line oplevelsesrum, hvor de selv bidrager til udvikling og indhold. Dette ud fra en betragtning om en form for ’spill-over’ brandingeffekt og i sidste ende noget der kan ses på bundlinjen (enten via salg eller reklameindtægter). Eksempelvis kan nævnes on-line brandede experiences eller communities som Nike Plus  og Endomondo.com . Som eksemplerne viser, er der nogle typer af ‘branded engagement’ der ligger lige til højrebenet – det er ofte emner af kulturel karakter eller mere nicheorienterede emner med en iboende tradition for, at folk diskuterer og involverer sig  - fx sport og hobbys, design, musik, kunst, film mm. Det gør udfordringen desto større i forhold til andre produktområder som FMCG og services indenfor fx bank og forsikring. Udfordringer er der nok af, fx den måde virksomheder i dag er organiseret i forhold til traditionel en-vejs kommunikation på nettet samt i tanken om, at afgive kontrol og lade brugerne/kunderne komme helt ind til kernen af ens brand. En yderligere pointe er, at den måde ‘branded engagement’ ofte bruges på i dag, er baseret på, at brugerne kommer til dig i stedet for, at skabe oplevelsesrummet der hvor brugerne er (fx via embedded communities).

Web 2.0 dagene er snart ovre spår kloge IT-guruer og vil inden længe blive afløst af en ny generation web innovation, som vi allerede oplever i de fremadrettede løsninger, som begynder at se dagens lys.

Men inden Web 2.0 er fuldstændig gammeldags og bliver alt for outdatet. Inden der bliver rømmet ved møderne, når ens begejstring fortsat ikke kan styres, hvis Flickr, Wikipedia, YouTube eller del.icio.us kommer på banen.

Ja, så gense dette klip, som lige har fejret et års jubilæum - og nu snart kan arkiveres…. Når innovationen med det semantiske web eller webben med sin kunstige intelligens gør sit indtog, som nogle tror bliver det nye Web 3.0. Hvad end det så lige præcis er - men spændende lyder det.

Hvad tror du prisen for ét klik på et af de tre sponsorerede links i toppen af resultlisten er?

Ca. 16 kr. pr. klik. (Derfor skyder jeg på, at Google får et pænt billion-$ overskud, når årets resultat afrundes på torsdag, med regnskabet for Q4),

Og det kan tydeligvis betale sig at annoncere- ellers betalte TDC nok ikke 16 kr. pr. klik, når de alligevel ligger nr. 2 på den ikke-betalte resultatliste… 

Denne servicemeddelelse annoncerer ligeledes 1508s indtog, som rådgiver inden for Google Adwords.

What happens when the audience or users starts co-constructing your marketing-messages? How can you control it – or is it even desirable to be able to control it? These key-questions were posed at this year’s New Media Days in Copenhagen.

“The users have become the producers of our time”. This was stated by Peter Hirshberg in the opening act at this year’s New Media Days. In a web 2.0 environment this has grand consequences for the way we think brands and advertising which Hirshberg illustrated through various examples. When users/consumers think of themselves, as public figures with an audience who contribute to current debates and stories, participation and engagement will be one of the main concerns for marketers trying to convey a certain message to an audience.

This focus on participation and co-construction is not new and has been part of Communication Theory for many years. The traditional ‘needle-theory’ perception of communication was abandoned long time ago. What has really changed during the last 3 years is the media environment. The web 2.0 has changed the conditions for participation and co-constuction– and hence the consequences for the brands which are trying to communicate.

In a web 2.0 environment the rules for brands and marketing are.. that there aren’t´ that many rules. The perception that marketers can, in some way or another, try to control communication is out-dated. Off course this makes the targeting of any communication message complex. Now more than ever it is open to scrutiny and debate across the world.

If the premise is lack of control the only thing you can do is try to navigate strategically in this complex environment. First of all you need to be aware of the social and cultural mechanisms that underlies this form of network. As pointed out by Shawn Gold, Head of Content and Marketing at MySpace, there are three basic interconnected mechanisms one has to be aware of:

1. Self-expression
2. Connection
3. Discovery

These three mechanisms form what he calls the DNA of the MySpace Generation. Self-expression is related to the fact that media plays a great part in identity production where privacy is not an issue and opportunity is connected to revealing information about one self. Connection is everything – being connected to friends and peers is a major part of navigating through the information stream, and making choices. It is also related to the fact that everyone is a distributor of content, meanings and lifestyle. Discovery is part of a basic drive to seek out and reveal new things and then distribute it to others.

The consequences are that you need to address these mechanisms in order to try to succeed in communicating in this environment. You need to seek out the basic premises for engaging the targeted audience in your project (and thereby your communication). What sense of belonging does this create? What kind of appreciation and recognition will participants receive? How can this enhance self-expression? Does this provide access to the right places? How can one act? Etc.

With this in mind you can set out to create the right tools, as vehicles for the targeted audience own content – making them a part of the communication and message construction as well as distributors. There is off course no guarantee for a huge viral marketing campaign success, but if you look at it in a kind of beta-cultural way, you must see how people react and then refine your project accordingly –often several times.

Line Huusom, 1508 A/S

Yesterday we launched yet another website to be proud of - and this time it’s our very own!

For several months we have been wishing and working on a website that shows 1508 in a more visual and comprehensive way. Have a visit on the site and go on a journey into our past and present to get to know the true story of 1508.

We would love to hear your opinion about the site.
 

The graf above (Google Analytics - great software) points out an interesting shift in web navigation of today. The 28,87 % is the share of users landing directly on the Home Page of a Danish Trade Union. This means that 71,23% of all users on this Trade Union website skips the homepage and goes directly to sub pages of the site. Earlier on the share of users entering a site through the home page was much greater than today. One of the main factors in this change is the upcoming of search engines such as Google. Now people search for content and is directed to the relevant page immediately.  So why am I writing about this? Why is this interesting? Because this change in user behaviour should change the way we design for web.

Web Navigation 2.0, as I so webish called it in the headline, means that the need for navigational instruments and overview possibilities on sub pages is about to be redefined. I say this because users for the time being have no clue about the total content of a site when entering via a sub page. Besides what information they can get from the global navigation, content navigation and the sub page itself, there isn’t much overview. So I predict that related information, and visualisation of site content is going to be something we will hear a lot more about in the years to come. Agree?

PS. I just found this great example: Apples new homepage. Take a look to the left of the Leopard-box. A great way to offer tons of information in very little space. Try to imagine news, calendar, hot products and vacant jobs on a corporate website in this form. Cool hhm?

The newest mystery game from BBC: CDX (by Preloaded)

as always the BBC and preloaded have delivered a crime story that just sucks you in. At first I thought what is this? probably something not that special! But oh I was wrong, quite wrong indeed, and the hour I spent immersed in the game, without any intention to do so, is testiment that this new game is pretty damn cool.

All from the graphics, which by the way are almost all videos, to the real cinematic feel of the of the story and the character. The only thing I can say is go try it for yourself and you be the judge of the quality of this work.

Cheers
S

Have you ever used Google maps to look at those aeriel pictures, well then you’re going to love this. This site takes all the good, and available maps, and converts them in one place, and you can even choose between the different sources…looks sweet and the navigation is intuitive as well.

Flasheart.com

Lighning “S” of the Justice League of 1508

At our previous after-work meeting here at 1508 the creators of www.mitkbh.dk presented the ideas and strategy behind their new user driven website. To put it simple: The logic behind the site is that 10 Copenhageners know more about their own city than one journalist - so why not let them share their own reviews on restaurants, café and other places with each other!

But mitkbh.dk is more than just written reviews. It is also an intelligent database that compares user information. Thereby mitkbh.dk is capable of providing the users with suggestions for new places to go according to their individual taste and preferences.

It was inspiring to experience to the thoughts, drive and energy that these guys had invested in the project, and it will be interesting to see how the site will develop in the future. According to the focus that mitkbh.dk has already received in the media it won’t be long before everybody knows about the site. But in order for the site to become a real success people need to actively participate by writing their own reviews. 

So if you haven’t already visited mitkbh.dk now is the time to do it. – And don’t forget to write a review about your favorite – or worst – place in Copenhagen. 

 PH.